FORD FOCUS MECHANIC PROBLEM

2000 Ford Focus • 130,000 miles

I took my car in and was told I needed new front brakes on top of many other things. When I got home I went over the bill and saw that I was also charged for two rotors. My car did sit for a lot of the summer since this is my winter car and I also did not drive much in winter due to illness. When I looked in my records I realized I just put rotors on less than 3,600 miles ago (almost two years ago). I feel like I have been ripped off. Is there any way in the world that I could have needed new rotors? I do not want to accuse someone of ripping me off if I am not positive. However, I am out of work due to illness so every little bit of money counts.

This is exactly why mechanics get such bad reputations for ripping people off. There's no way the mechanic knew the age of the rotors or the miles on them so he did what every other conscientious mechanic would have done, ... And it almost came back to bite him. Luckily you came here first.

Brake rotors always wear unevenly and develop grooves and scratches. They must be machined to make both sides perfectly smooth and parallel to each other, otherwise you'll have noises and a possibly a brake pedal pulsation. Only a do-it-yourselfer would even consider replacing the brake pads without machining the rotors. At issue here today is cost and time. As little as ten years ago some new brake rotors cost over $100.00 each so we machined them whenever possible instead of replacing them. You have to look at the cost of the brake lathe, the cost of the cutting bits that wear out quickly, (and can be expensive), and consider that it takes ten to twenty minutes to set each one up correctly on the machine and do the work. It is also possible to set it up wrong and machine a warp into one and have to do the machine work over. There is also a legal limit to the minimum thickness rotors can be machined to. Most cars today come with rotors that are so thin already to save weight that there isn't much material that can be taken off. Often the mechanic measures them, finds them to be okay, but barely, takes the time to machine them, THEN finds they're too thin even before all the grooves and warpage have been removed.

All of that can be avoided by just replacing the rotors instead of inspecting, measuring, and machining them. Today it is real common to buy brand new rotors for as little as ten bucks a piece, although around $30.00 is more common. In most cases your mechanic will find it faster AND less expensive in the long run to just replace them. Had he known they didn't have many miles on them he might have elected to machine them, but you are responsible for telling him that.

Also, why were new brake pads needed in so few miles? What were the symptoms? There are things that can happen from just sitting for a long time but usually just regular driving will take care of rust buildup and related noises. Again, if the mechanic is told the pads have few miles, his recommendations would likely have been different. If he was looking for the cause of a noise, for example, machining the rotors is one common remedy.

I will never defend a disreputable mechanic but in this case there's nothing to suggest he did anything wrong.

LESS THAN AN OIL CHANGE AGO?......................MORE LIKE RAPED THAN RIPPED!

I WOULD DEFINITELY "NICELY INQUIRE" ABOUT THIS.......AS THAT MAY GET YOU FURTHER ALONG.....THEY MIGHT REFUND YOU SAYING IT WAS AN HONEST MISTAKE (THIS WOULD BE GOOD) SAVE THE HOLLERING AND SCREAMING FOR THE AUDIENCE IN THE WAITING ROOM IF IT COMES DOWN TO THAT..........TRY THE SUBTLE WAY 1ST

YOU NEED TO LOCATE "YOUR MAN" AND STICK WITH HIM FOR EVERYTHING!.........HERE'S SOME IDEAS ON HOW

LOOKING FOR A DECENT SHOP...NOT A RIPPOFF...GOOD WORK?

PEGGY SUE AND BETTY LOU (YOUR BUDDIES) KINDA MIGHT NOT DO SUCH GOOD RECOMMENDING....AS THEY MOST LIKELY ARE IN THE SAME BOAT AS YOU ARE WHEN IT COMES TO INSPECTING SOMETHING THEY KNOW NOTHING ABOUT!

SO HERE'S A POSSIBLE ROUTE FOR YOU.....TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT!

GO TO YOUR POPULAR AUTO PARTS STORES (MORE THAN ONE MIGHT MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER) ASK TO SPEAK TO THE "COMMERCIAL SALES MANAGER".

MOST LIKELY AS HE HAS MADE IT THRU THE RANKS, HE HAS VISITED MANY OF THE LOCAL SHOPS AND HAS DELIVERED PARTS TO THEM FOR QUITE SOME TIME. JUST FROM SEEING THESE OPERATIONS, HE MOST LIKELY WILL KNOW WHO DOES GREAT WORK, IN A TIMELY MANNER, AND POSSIBLY AT WONDERFUL RATES.

YOUR KEY QUESTION TO ASK, JUST BEFORE YOU LEAVE IS: "WOULD YOU SEND YOUR MAMA THERE?"

IF YOU HAPPEN TO TRY ANOTHER STORE....SEE IF THE SAME NAME(S) COME UP

'MEMBER THIS IS AN "JOB INTERVIEW" FOR A "DOCTOR" FOR "YOUR CAR" AND FOR YOUR PAL'S CARS WHEN YOU RECOMMEND THIS GUY TO THEM..................DO YOUR HOMEWORK....DON'T JUMP ON THE 1ST ONE...............I WOULD TRUST THE COMMERCIAL SALES MANAGER OVER "BETTY SUE'S" WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE AT HER MECHANIC........BETTY SUE AIN'T EXPERIENCED IN THE AUTO FIELD, ALL SHE KNOWS IS WHAT SHE IS "FED", WHEREVER SHE WENT